Wow! Chesck out the morphing scary face of the Esso sign at the end. BP excutives must pray to it every night.

I liked the Esso commercial with the singing gas jockeys. The face was a definitely sinister end to the whole thing. I could imagine some parents threatening their kids with that.

Both parts (The Intro and the "Face" part) are cool for different reasons: The "bakers dozen", the free bone, the scenes of old shops, etc. The "Face" part, well, besides the BAD singing, the face was more then a little weird, I was expecting the letters to turn into an emoticon-face.

Finally, I kindof admire the inclusion of a black dude without any (that I could see) racial stereotypes.

That face was rather creepy, but not as scary as people would have you think. Anyway, this is an enjoyable petrol ad, with a catchy jingle and some fantastic historical footage. I would thank Mr Rick Prelinger for making this short film available to the public. It's Short and sweet.

P.S. Screen ads like this one were shown at the end of the picture, not the beginning.

There's a smile for every mile at the Esso sign! And yes, for those who had noticed, the gas pump was set for 18 cents per gallon.

Just thought I should clarify-- the word used to descibe the extra stuff in the deep south is "langniappe" (pronounced "lanyap"). It's a New Orleans creole word of possibly Spanish origin, although the origin is unclear. This commercial was excellent, especially the surreal turn at the end with the singing and the creepy happy face sign!

This screen ad is unintentionally hilarious, specifficly the part where the narrator talks about how everybody calls a freebie something different ("In New England they call it 'Something to Boot' in the deep south they call it 'lanya'") oh and the final surprise of this film is when the Esso sign morphs into a smiley face and says "Happy Motoring." Highly recomended.

This is, I feel, a combination of 3 different elements in this ad. The demonstration of how you can get something extra if you're a good customer ("People in the deep south call it Lanya!") the bit where the 2 gas jockeys are singing (not very well) and the final segment, where the Esso signs turns into this EVIL SMILEY FACE! Arrrgh! It always brought me chills when I saw him the first time, and thanks to Mr Prelinger, I can relieve it again and again!

Here's something new I learned from Rick Prelinger's excellent Ephemeral Films CD-ROM: the 60-second spot was not born on television, or even radio. Movie theaters ran "Minute Movies", such as Extra, as another way to increase profits. It was assumed that audiences had little tolerance for viewing advertising, so a 60-second limit was placed on these films. This ad for Esso service stations starts out pretty standard, but gets weird at the end when the gas jockeys suddenly break into a jingle and the Esso sign mutates into a grinning face.
Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***. Also available on Ephemeral Films and Lifestyles, USA, Vol. 1.